L Brands sales carried by Bath & Body Works once again in June

Columbus, Ohio-based fashion retail group L Brands, Inc. reported a 6% rise in June’s net sales on Wednesday, driven by an increase in comps of 3%, assured by a strong performance at its personal care brand.

Bath & Body Works helped offset disappointing sales at Victoria's Secret The company’s net sales for the five-week period ended July 7, 2018 therefore totaled $1.282 billion, compared to the $1.213 billion reported in the same period in the previous year.

The group’s self-care brand Bath & Body Works was once again tasked with offsetting falls in sales at Victoria’s Secret, offering up a respectable 10% increase to even out a 1% decrease at the lingerie chain.

It was a similar story with the brands’ store-only comps, where Bath & Body Works reported a 7% rise, only managing to partially offset a drop of 6% at Victoria’s Secret in order to ease the overall decline at L Brands to 2%.

Year to date, L Brands’ net sales increased 8% to $4.760 billion in the 22 weeks ended July 7, 2018, compared to $4.424 billion in the prior-year period, while comparable sales rose 3%.

L Brands’ current guidance for Q2 2018 forecasts earnings per share (EPS) of between $0.30 and $0.35, while the company’s full-year outlook now predicts EPS of between $2.70 and $3.00, having been revised down from between $2.95 and $3.25 following the group’s disappointing 50% drop in earnings in Q1.

The company opened 20 new stores in June 2018 and closed 24, meaning that it currently operates a total of 3,075 locations across the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland and China.